Sri Lanka's unemployment figures dropped

Sri Lanka's unemployment figures has dropped by 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, the lowest quarterly rate since reaching 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, data from the Department of Census and Statistics revealed.

"Overall unemployment reported for females was 7.3 percent and 2.9 percent for males. Youth unemployment for the age group 15 to 24 was 18.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010. The highest unemployment rate was reported from this age group with 15.1 percent for males and 23.4 percent for females. Unemployment was severe among females than for males across all age groups," the government statistics office said.

According to Department of Census and Statistics the labor force participation rate was 49.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010. The employed population amounts to 7,909,178 persons.

Around 33.8 percent of the workforce was engaged in the agriculture sector at 2,672,472, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2009. There has been a drop in the industry sector workforce to 24.1 percent at 1,909,857 from 25.3 percent in 2009 at 1,920,825.

The services sector employed 42.1 percent of the workforce at 3,326,849, declining each quarter since reaching 3,378,672 or 44.4 percent in the second quarter of 2010. Sri Lanka recorded robust economic growth during the fourth quarter of last year.

"Economic output of Sri Lanka as measured by GDP for the fourth quarter of 2010 at constant (2002) prices was estimated at Rs. 676.8 billion, as against Rs. 623.3 billion a year earlier, registering an 8.6 percent growth rate. This growth rate is noteworthy as it is the highest recorded for quarterly GDP growth since 2002," the statistics office said.

The Central Bank reports indicated that agriculture grew 6.3 percent, industry 8.9 percent, and services 8.8 percent, while Sri Lanka's economy will register a 8.5 percent. However, these statistics would be subjected to change due to internal and external changes both in locally as well as globally.